Torn on the place to trip within the Mediterranean?
We’re right here that will help you out by narrowing down your choices to 2 of the Med’s hottest attracts: Greece and Croatia. However which is best for you? We’ll let two passionate and knowledgeable journey writers make it easier to resolve.
Greece is the phrase
Based mostly in upbeat Athens since 1996, our Greece knowledgeable Helen Iatrou has co-authored Lonely Planet’s Greece and Expertise Greece guides. If given the selection, she’ll all the time select a crusing yacht to go island-hopping.
Six weeks of gallivanting throughout Greece’s mountainous mainland and superb islands three a long time in the past was all it took to persuade me that I wanted to relocate there and join with my ancestral roots.
After I took the leap, everybody – from taxi drivers to island resort homeowners – would say to me, with a giant, heat smile: “So, you’ve returned dwelling.” Main factors for hospitality, Greece. Philoxenia, which roughly interprets to “buddy to a stranger,” is an historical Greek idea that’s all however ingrained in our DNA.
I found dozens of Greek-somethings had been already right here, savoring a slower-paced, much less worrying life-style. Greek time is definitely a factor. Should you’ve organized a espresso date along with your Greek buddy, don’t stress about operating late; they in all probability are, too. I contemplate this a wholesome relationship with time – and certainly one of many causes Greece wins in any debate involving its Mediterranean cousin Croatia.
A rustic with numerous choices
Your solely dilemma is similar one I’ve confronted for over 25 years. How do you select the place to go in Greece and when? If it’s your first time right here, discover your bearings within the nation’s capital, thought-about the birthplace of Western civilization. Amongst Athens’ priceless international items are philosophy, literature and democracy. Attain Classical-era highs on the Acropolis, marveling on the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion.
Take a look at the Acropolis Museum, the place 5 of six finely-detailed caryatid sculptures stand proud (the sixth is within the British Museum, together with the Parthenon Marbles; Greece continues its battle to have the marbles reunified with these on show in Athens). Different must-visits are the Nationwide Archaeological Museum and the Tactual Museum, initially created for the visually impaired to have the ability to contact life-size copies of masterpieces just like the Venus de Milo.
Archaeological websites and monuments look proper at dwelling amid the hubbub of the modern-day captial. The town has advanced into an artwork vacation spot, with the Nationwide Museum of Up to date Artwork, the Basil & Elise Goulandris Basis and even a department of Gagosian.
Athens neighborhoods bristle with life. Pangrati and Kypseli’s open-air cafes draw espresso connoisseurs. Rebellious Exarchia’s quirky bookshops reel in bibliophiles, whereas rebetika (Greek blues) joints appeal to sentimental souls.
Past cultural kudos, Athens is certainly one of few European capitals that has Blue Flag seashores. Nope, Zagreb, I don’t imply lakes: fish tavernas, elegant eating places, hip cafes and seashore bars line the 61km (38mi)-long Athens Riviera. At Lake Vouliagmeni, you possibly can even bathe in thermal springs.
Island life
OK, I’ll admit that Croatia has develop into one of many cool youngsters of late. Nonetheless, its islands don’t stand an opportunity in opposition to Greece’s 227-strong archipelago – a depend that solely consists of the inhabited ones. Alternatives for island-hopping in Greece are merely limitless.
Within the Ionian, fir-clad slopes rise excessive above emerald seas. Within the hills behind Corfu’s Barbati seashore, English naturalist and author Gerald Durrell roamed free as a teenager. Scale the capital’s Outdated Fortress for views of tightly huddled ocher-, peach- and fuschia-colored neoclassical mansions.
Within the Cyclades, millionaire magnet Mykonos and honeymooner favourite Santorini draw a lot of the consideration; contemplate heading to Naxos to swim at golden sand seashores and relish farm-to-fork fare. Dodge summer season crowds within the lesser-trodden Northeastern Aegean. Go windsurfing in Limnos, then chow down on braised cockerel with flomaria (pasta).
Again on the mainland, a highway journey by Central Greece reveals the nation’s huge variety: from Delphi, the middle of the traditional world, to Meteora’s hovering monoliths and Byzantine monasteries.
Schedule a cease in Volos to pattern fish and seafood meze with potent spirit tsipouro at one of many port city’s tsipouradika. East of Volos lies densely-forested Pelion, the place you’ll discover conventional villages, mountaineering trails and – sure – extra seashores.
Truthfully: Croatia, I’d give up when you’re forward.
A Croatian crescendo
Lucie Grace fell in love with Croatia when she unexpectedly moved to its capital metropolis two years in the past. Since then, she has traveled the size and breadth of the nation, normally on a quest to search out the very best slice of burek wherever she lands.
Okay, Greece, everyone knows you’re the birthplace of Western civilization. However isn’t the fun of journey exploring someplace that’s new and stunning? Since I moved to Hrvatska (Croatian for Croatia), life has been one marvel after one other. I’m continually wowed by the wild, pure sights and variety of tradition on this socially minded gem, the place Slavic east meets Roman west, with hints of Ottoman within the combine for good measure. Croatia is a spot that can all the time preserve you guessing.
Adriatic aspirations
Take Cut up, for instance: a metropolis based inside a Third-century palace. How the partitions are nonetheless standing after 1700 years blows my thoughts – and that’s earlier than I take within the warren of cafes, retailers, museums and church buildings which have all made themselves at dwelling inside its shiny marble confines. Maybe the one historical metropolis in Croatia that’s extra stunning than Cut up is the “Pearl of the Adriatic,” Dubrovnik – and, let’s be trustworthy, this nickname is completely bang-on. Recreation of Thrones fan or not, you’ll be hard-pressed to be unimpressed by the stately structure and imposing metropolis partitions right here.
You’ll then uncover that Croatia is filled with superb pure sights: eight designated nationwide parks make up 10% of the nation’s land mass, together with the dazzling Plitvice Lakes. The park is a nature-lover’s idyll, with 150 species of birds, 300 forms of butterflies and 1200 styles of vegetation, all of which congregate across the 16 large turquoise lakes that circulation into one another, related by cascading waterfalls of fascinating styles and sizes.
There’s loads of unbelievable meals in Croatia, too – just like the braised meats, stews and dumplings that high the menu inland, or the grilled-fish dishes, shellfish and calamari flowing by the coast. Nevertheless it’s the pastry snack burek that has captured my coronary heart. You may order cheese, spinach or meat fillings – and so they’re a meal in itself. Don’t blame me in the event you, too, get addicted.
Blue Flag seashores? We received ’em en masse, even in our busy college cities like Rijeka, the place the music scene pops off seven days per week. However as a rustic with a 5835km (3625-mile) shoreline, you’re by no means removed from a jaw-dropping aquamarine cove to dive into. And from the hidden coves of Sveti Ivan in Lubenice on Cres to the picturesque Zlatni Rat, a shocking peninsula seashore (and drone-flier’s dream) on Brač, there’s an island seashore for each event.
Now, I’m sorry, Greece, however I feel it’s honest to say you might have too many islands. With 227, how is anybody alleged to know the place to begin? Croatia’s 48 inhabited islands are neatly stacked in a chic row, parallel with the nation’s shore, all simple to navigate and attain when in comparison with the Cyclades or the Dodecanese.
Magic moments
I’ve stated this earlier than and I need to stress this once more: Croatia is extremely protected, which is large for me as a solo feminine traveler. Identify me one other nation in Europe the place you possibly can depart your door unlocked if you come out and every thing will probably be high quality? Such security makes for elegant leisure. The Dalmatians have a particular title for this explicit state of bliss: fjaka: the artwork of chilling out within the scorching summer season months. It’s so laid-back, it’s meditative.
Lastly, my favourite ingredient: the magic within the air. Whether or not you imagine within the ley strains (aka “dragon strains”) of Istria or not, you possibly can’t deny the folklore; it’s in all places, in each city and metropolis. Pleasant giants who constructed villages, useful witches who created lakes…there’s one thing totally magnetic about Croatia’s ethereal atmosphere.
And it’ll preserve you longing to return again, 12 months after 12 months.
